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unhappy with durability of paint


Jcecil01

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Hello,

 

I finished a short shot a couple of months ago. I absolutely love it! The boat is amazing in the water. However, I not too happy with the durability of the coating i put on the boat. 

It is probably my fault for not doing more research and tailoring the craft to the demands I am likely to put it under. I paddle a lot of lakes here in Iowa but also will take the boat on larger rivers. I have not put what i feel to be a lot of stress on it with dragging and bumping into rocks but there has been a little. I will take the boat on medium sized rivers when water levels are appropriate. I feel like i have been careful. However, after about 8 outings i am starting to see some of the paint being scraped off in a couple of places. I am looking for advice on how to protect augment my paint to make it stronger. If i need to re-skin the boat i would consider doing that. 

 

I used the premium dacron fabric. I did 5 coats of Rustoleum oil enamel to seal the boat. I did not install brass rub rails which in retrospect would solve much of the problem. Is it too late to do this? Is there something i can put over the enamel to give it a more abrasion resistance?

 

Any comments are welcome. 

 

John Cecil

Des Moines Iowa

 

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I've only had my Short Shot in the water 3 times so far. And like you, I am very pleased with the performance, but slightly concerned with the paint especially on the keel. My last outing was on a local creek that had the usual submerged logs. When the entire keel rubs on objects like this it makes me wonder what damage it might be doing. 

 

Rather than brass at the bow and stern I used an 1/8" thick x 7/16 strip of delrin held on with stainless screws every 3 inches. It is very tough stuff and seems to be working nicely. Now I'm thinking about covering my entire keel with it for protection. 

 

-Ben

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I try to stress that abrasion is your #1 enemy. If you're paddling where you are constantly as opposed to occasionally scrubbing the bottom or bumping into rocks and stumps you better put on rub strips or you will have a hole in the fabric shortly. These are sea kayaks and not white water boats. Moving water shoving you over and into rocks is a disaster in the making.  The two times I went down a flowing shallow river I had to reskin both boat because of abrasion damage.

 

I recommend rub strips on every boat because repeatedly beaching the bow can abrade a hole in the skin.  Run into things while paddling I have never damaged the boat other than scuffing the paint. I have run over countless downed trees, rocks, etc. But they are not hitting the same spot over an over as happens in flowing river where you bow and chines are constantly being shoved into and pushed down rocks.

 

I have used plastic strips as bur strips and while they didn't last they worked well.  If you install a square strip, full length you are creating a keel and your going to increase the tracking, possible so much so it will not want to turn. It really need to be a quarter round shape.  I never put anything except on the bow and something the stern but that is for looks. If you really need a full length rub strip you probably shouldn't be paddling a SOF there.

 

PS. I am looking for a new supplier for brass stock. Think I may have found one.

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Thanks Jeff,

 

I am definitely not taking this on whitewater. I have only taken this boat on major tributaries. Mostly is has been on lakes. I have not scrapped/dragged the bottom of the boat on low water over rocks or anything like that. I had a hard breach on a ramp in heavy winds that may have contributed to this.

 

I think some brass strips would solve most of the problem as the wear spots I am most concerned about are along the stern keel. I am going to look into putting a finish coat over the enamel but I need to find something pretty tough that will stick to enamel. I have some knowledgeable craftsman looking into some products for me. I thought I would through it out here too for suggestions.

 

Better safe than sorry right?

 

John

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  • 2 months later...

I have spent my life in aviation and recovered my share of old fabric covered air planes. With only 2 to 4 oz.  cloth very similar  to what we are covering our boats with.  In areas of high wear or stress we would use  what was call reinforcing tape. This tape was nothing more than the same material the plane was covered with just cut into strips and glued over the stress areas.  This worked great and if done right after the plane was painted was very hard to see. I was planning to do this to the keel area of my Vardo. But going one step farther and putting two tape layers down there. The first tape being 4 inches wide the next  layer 2 inches wide. That way you do not have but one layer of tape at a time to fill or blend in with paint to hide the two extra layers of covering to hide.   This will not stop the wear going over rocks but you will have three layers of covering for twice the protection of the bottom of your pride and joy...

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14 hours ago, Joe Underwood said:

This will not stop the wear going over rocks but you will have three layers of covering for twice the protection of the bottom of your pride and joy...

 

Not trying to be confrontational here but why do it? The fabrics I recommend are 3 times as heavy as aircraft fabric and much, much tougher!   Its  just extra work and added weight to the boat and totally unnecessary. I have paddled these for years and have yet to put a hole in but one boat and I was doing something stupid. I don't think we have had anyone on the forum that has put a hole in their boat while paddling it?  People are all ways trying to make them stronger and more durable but they don't need it. They are more than durable enough now as long as you use them as intended.

 

Instead  just install rub strips on bow where it is most likely to see abrasion damage and be done.  I sell the bronze which will allow you run your boat up on a concrete ramp without any worries. They are the ultimate in protection!  You can also  make them from wood or plastic though that doesn't last as long. With those in place the risk if damaging the skin is pretty minimal.

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My Ravenswood is painted with acrylic primer and acrylic house paint, which probably doesn't adhere quite as well as alkyd. I find that I need to touch up a few (3 to 5) small (~ 1/4" X 1") areas along the keel, chines, or rails a couple of times a year where I banged into something, more often while carrying the boat rather than paddling it. In no case have I observed damage to the dacron skin. I consider this maintenance and of no significant effect on the use of the boat.

 

The boat has vinyl rub strips fore and aft. The strips are 1/16" X 7/16" and were cut from left over bits of a vinyl fence.

 

Fair winds to all the happy paddlers out there, Andy 

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Rustoleum "Topside" paint is a straight alkyd and not very hard, nor very good at abrasion resistance. House paints (acrylics) now tend to be slightly better than the traditional alkyds, if modified. These modified acrylics will have things on the label like; "reinforced", "modified", "poly", etc. before or after the acrylic in the product name or description. Additionally, you can use a "urethane" of some sort, a few are water borne. Acrylic urethane, polyurethane, modified urethane, etc. are the things you'd see on the label. These urethanes are harder, more durable and resist abrasion better, though at the cost of some flexibility.

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  • 4 weeks later...

So, I did some research, and decided to take a chance at applying another clear coat over the Rust-Oleum paint. I opted for a Marine Spar Varnish which had to be special ordered off of Amazon. I applied 4 very thin coats. The stuff is oil based and kind of nasty and hard to find. I chose it because it was designed to be very durable but also have a little flex to it. So far, it has worked out great and seems to be much more durable that the Rust-Oleum alone. I will add some rub strips over the winter months as well.

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